The Conceptual Construction of the Administrative Act in Bolivia: Methodological Proposal and Analysis of Normative and Jurisprudential Deficiencies

• Autor: Rojas Barrientos, Sergio Rodrigo
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2026
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/32287
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/derechopucp/article/view/32287
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Administrative Law; Administrative act; Mere procedural acts; Qualified procedural acts; Systematic review of case law; Derecho administrativo; Acto administrativo; Actos de mero trámite; Actos de trámite cualificados; Revisión sistemática de jurisprudencia

This study aims to determine whether deficiencies in theconceptual construction of the administrative act—at both the normative and jurisprudential levels—have influenced in the confusing treatment afforded to public acts of an administrative nature in Bolivia. To this end, a data collection instrument was developed to record the conceptual demarcation attributable to a specific source based on its stance regarding the five controversies that encompass the doctrinal variability surrounding the concept of the administrative act. Subsequently, this instrument was used to infer the conceptual demarcation attributable to the set of Bolivian normative sources that define the administrative act. It was then applied to a representative sample of decisions issued by Bolivia’s highest courts, obtained through a systematic, exhaustive and replicable search for relevant judgments. The findings reveal that the legally binding definition of the administrative act excludes a significant set of public acts of particular scope, direct effects, and non-jurisdictional nature, resulting in a confusing system of challenge. Moreover, it was determined that the inclusion of regulations diminishes the practical utility of the administrative act as a legal construct, since these acts are subject to general normative propositions different from those regulating acts of particular scope. It was also discovered that two norms—one legislative and one regulatory—adopt mutually exclusive positions regarding whether acts with indirect effects belong to the category of administrative acts. This contradiction has generated two conflicting lines of case law and this, in turn, has caused procedural acts to receive a treatment that should be reserved for acts with direct effects. It is expected that these findings will guide legislative and jurisdictional practices in Bolivia and, furthermore, that other researchers will apply the methodology employed in this work to revealhow the administrative act is conceptualized in other jurisdictions within the Ibero-American family of normative systems.